Julia Phillips found guilty in Melvin Roberts' murder

Published: Thursday, September 5, 2013 at 7:28 p.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, September 5, 2013 at 7:28 p.m.

YORK - A jury on Thursday evening convicted Julia Phillips in the murder of former York Mayor Melvin Roberts, and she was sentenced to life in prison.

During closing arguments early Thursday, Phillips' lawyer argued that from the moment police found former York Mayor Melvin Roberts dead in his driveway three years ago, they considered Julia Phillips a suspect and orchestrated plans to charge her with his murder, her lawyer argued in court Thursday morning.

“Police should never have charged Julia,” said Bobby Frederick, Phillips' Myrtle Beach defense attorney. “They didn't have enough evidence. The only reason they charged her is because this was Melvin Roberts.”

Pressure from the media and family who Frederick said were “crying for blood...'do something'...'charge someone,'” convinced police to charge Phillips in the first place. He said officers used a “good interrogation tactic” to exploit Phillips' awkward, weird behavior so she would seem intentionally inconsistent.

“She's grandiose. She's attention-seking. She doesn't act normal, and she's on a lot of medications,” he said about Phillips. “In three years, (prosecutors) built a case based on motive, not evidence.”

Since last Monday, Phillips, Roberts' longtime girlfriend, has stood trial for what police say was her part in his death. Roberts, who practiced law in York for 55 years, was found strangled to death outside his Roberts Avenue home on Feb. 4, 2010 —Phillips' birthday.

Three months later, police charged Phillips with murder.

Prosecutors say Phillips grew greedy and desperate when she realized Roberts planned to end their decade-long relationship. He already had started cutting her off financially at a time when she had less than $2 in her checking account, owed creditors nearly $1,500, paid expansive out-of-pocket costs to support a prescription pill habit and became solely responsible for paying bills to a Gaffney store that Roberts owned but she managed.

Julia's Inc. suffered a shortfall after Merle Norman, a cosmetics franchise, dissolved its relationship with Phillips. Testimony last week showed Roberts also paid all of Phillips' utilities, health insurance and trips to beach houses and lawyer conventions.

Phillips has claimed that she was ambushed by a Hispanic attacker who, depending on which statement she gave police, either only said “money” or threatened her several times as he bound her with duct tape and dragged her behind a brick wall. Her alleged assailant then hit Roberts with a metal pipe and fired a gun.

But, prosecutors called on witnesses who have pointed to at least 12 inconsistent statements Phillips gave police about what happened the night of Roberts' death. While speaking with her, they noticed her clothes were not wet though she claimed to have been pushed down face down in the mud. The duct tape wrapped around her head, wrists, ankles and neck was loose, not tight.

Police also found gunshot residue on her clothes, though she claimed not to have fired a gun in years. On Thursday, when prosecutors and the defense gave their closing arguments, Frederick said police lied in a sworn affidavit for Phillips' arrest when they claimed her clothes were dry. During the trial, Frederick displayed the jeans Phillips wore the night she was attacked. They were wet towards the bottom cuffs and, according to Frederick, were missing the amount of mud he saw on them three years ago.

He said both Lt. Dale Edwards and Capt. Brian Trail touched Phillips' hands and arms the night of the murder before she was tested for gunshot residue. It's possible, he said, they could have touched their guns or duty belts, or their patrol cars could have retained gunshot residue.

Wednesday, Frederick called on Chris Robinson, a forensic consultant, who said it's possible for gunshot residue to still be detected in police cars months after they're used, or on police weapons if they're not cleaned.

“Regardless of what (police) might say, they don't always clean their guns,” Frederick said Thursday.

Making his last appeal to the jury, Frederick said prosecutors have “painstakingly” introduced evidence and witnesses —”smoke and mirrors,” he called it— that have been unable to solidly prove Phillips' involvement in Roberts' slaying. He told jurors prosecutors want them to ignore evidence —none of which directly links Phillips to the murder— and rely on guessing to convict.”

We can't guess someone into the penitentiary,” he said.

Frederick's comment inflamed Hodge, who proceeded to air a series of objections because Frederick discussed punishment in his closing arguments.

He implored jurors to use their “common sense” when examining evidence, adding that prosecutors have only established motive, which isn't a standard for a conviction.

“If I'm murdered tonight, in three years' time, they can make a case of motive against my wife,” he said. But, it's not proof.

Frederick explained why he called his wife, paralegal and accountant, Joi Frederick, to the stand on Tuesday. She was to prove that Phillips' family, who paid $50,000 for his services, had been caring for Phillips and that the Gaffney store manager did not need Roberts' money.

“Julia has her own family that loves her, takes care of her, has always been there,” he said. “She has resources.”

Responding to allegations about Phillips' prescription pill habit, he said, “she has multiple cancers. She has fibromyalgia. She takes a lot of medication.”

Prosecutors and police “harassed” Ronnie Burgess, the “most credible witness” to take the stand, into detailing his story that he drove William Hunter Stephens, Phillips' son, to York on Feb. 4, Frederick said.

Burgess last week testified that Stephens had been helping him with his computer when he received a call about Phillips' assault. Burgess drove Stephens to York from Gaffney.

But, prosecutors have “clung” to the theory that Stephens helped his mother kill Roberts. Stephens was questioned by police, but never charged. He is currently in prison serving time for identity fraud. Police say they believe someone else helped Phillips kill Roberts, but they have not charged anyone else in three years.

Several pieces of evidence collected, including the duct tape used to bind Phillips and the zip tie around Roberts' neck, tested for DNA belonging to an unidentified person.

He criticized the prosecution's use of Guy Blankenship, a confidential police informant, admitted thief and black-market plastic surgeon who last week testified that Phillips offered him $10,000 to kill Roberts.

“He's a paid liar” who fabricated a story to police so he could get extra cash, Frederick alleged before comparing Blankenship with a “maggot wriggling inside a sandwich.” Blankenship, who also admitted on the stand that he teaches people how to write fake checks and has several larceny charges pending in North Carolina, manages an antique shop in Gaffney across the street from Julia's Inc.

On Thursday, Blankenship, who attended court to see the outcome of the trial, said he stands by his testimony and everything he testified about can be proven.

“It's 100 percent true,” he said, adding that he's not a paid liar. He's paid to buy drugs for narcotics officers —”there's no lie in that.”

About Frederick's comment, he said, “I'm not her defense attorney. I assume since he knows that she's done this, he should feel like a maggot since he's defending somebody who put a zip tie around a man's neck and choked the life out of him.”

“Would you want this Guy Blankenship to watch your children? Would you trust Guy Blankenship to loan him money? Would you trust him to go into business with him? If you wouldn't trust him with the most important things in your life, don't you dare trust him with Julia's life,” Frederick said. “For three years, I've been responsible for Julia. Now, I have to turn over that responsibility to each of you.”

Kris Hodge, the Greenville County solicitor prosecuting Phillips, gave closing arguments focusing on the inconsistencies and outright lies Phillips told police after Roberts was found slain.

The 13th Circuit Solicitor's Office in Greenville is prosecuting Phillips, as solicitors in York County recused themselves because of past associations with Roberts, who worked as a lawyer in York for 55 years. York County judges also recused themselves from the case, which is why Circuit Court Judge Derham Cole, of Spartanburg, is presiding.

Like Frederick, Hodge also asked jurors to rely on their common sense. Phillips' family was not giving her money to buy prescription pills, Hodge said, and, if she was financially well-off, why did she not pay back a former employee whose light bill money she borrowed?

Hodge also questioned Frederick's gunshot residue expert Robinson, who she said is in between jobs and needs to put “money in his pocket.” Robinson never presented the research he supposedly conducted on gunshot residue in police cars, Hodge said, and gave no more information about how he performed his studies.

“This defendant has the only motive in this case,” Hodge said. “She's not being weird. She's not being awkward; she's not a little kooky. She's lying. And, where do lies get you? They get you in the details.”

Those details have varied from interview to interview with police, Hodge said as she focused on the personal, brutal nature of Roberts' murder with a zip tie. Phillips, she said, aimed to gain from Roberts' death because she stood to inherit $150,000 worth of property he bequeathed to her in his will. But Hodge also presented Phillips' day planner, which contained notes on trading, buying and selling pills.

“She was bleeding him dry” financially, Hodge said. “She knew time was ticking.”

Hodge replayed snippets of Phillips' interviews with police, pointing out conflicting details about her attacker's physical description, the things he said to her, how she was duct tape and how he positioned her behind the wall. The edges of the duct tape, Hodge said, look as if they were cut with a pair of scissors and the tape wrapped around Phillips' head only pulled off a few strands of hair.

“She's not a victim, she's a participant,” Hodge said. “She is a very cunning, very manipulative...very desperate, lying, scheming, murderous woman. Don't be fooled by the package. Dynamite comes in a small package, but it's very deadly.”

After closing arguments were heard, jurors went sent to the jury room to begin deliberations.

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